Thursday, 7 June 2012

With the help of my Goodreads account, I thought I'd write a 6 month update of books I've read and would recommend. I won't go through all of the books that I've read, because I don't want to bore you to death. I hope this is interesting to somebody else apart from me :)

The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter

This book was recommended to me by a friend, so after months of being told to read it I finally purchased it. I've previously read a couple of other books by Angela Carter (Wise Children, Book of Fairytales) and I definitely enjoyed those so I had pretty high expectations for this.
I have very split opinions about this one. On a positive note, as soon as I started reading I was enchanted by the beautiful style of writing and this is something more or less continued throughout the entirety of the book. However, whilst that remained to be the case, the further into the book I got, the more confused I became. I guess that's kind of the whole point of the book, it's not something to be easily understood and the topics discussed are not ones that are necessarily easy to approach.
I found myself having to step away in order to rearrange what had happened in order for it to make sense to me. I'm still undecided if this is a good thing or not.
I would definitely recommend this book, but just don't approach it with the expectance that it will be an easy read or anywhere near as humorous as 'Wise Children.'The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

I originally saw the movie adaptation of this first, and I loved it. (If you haven't seen it, do!) So of course, I had to read the book. I think watching the movie first sort of ruined it for me, while reading I was sat there thinking 'oh well this didn't happen in the book' or i'd constantly be waiting for something to happen as I had seen it in the movie.
Having said that, this book is most definitely a horror book and is full of atmospheric twists and turns that keep the reader gripped. I started and finished this in one night, which is always a sign of a good book. I made the mistake of reading this at night time, which by end of it left me unable to even switch my light off..because yes, it was either that scary or i'm that easy to scare!
Again, this is a book I would recommend. Just avoid reading it at night unless you're okay with losing some sleep.

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Again, I bought these after seeing the movie adaptation of the first book.
These are kind of a guilty pleasure for me. As I started reading the first book, the first thing that stood out to me was how poorly written they air. This is something I struggled with when reading the Twilight Saga, however unlike Twilight, the story of this is actually good...really good! It wasn't long until I was so caught up in the first book and I completely forgot my original dislike of the writing style, or lack of.
I finished the first book over 2 nights, and ditto for 'Catching Fire,' the second book in the trilogy.
I wasn't quite so hooked on 'Mockingjay,' the last book in the trilogy. It was still good, but there seemed to be so much going on yet not a lot of it all. There were some heartbroken moments, and I think that's what I love about this trilogy. It was so easy to get caught up in the lives of the characters, and they're characters that you actually care about so when something happens, the reader can really empathise.
If you can forget the not-so-brilliant writing, definitely read these. For the most part, they're so easy to get through and they definitely play with your heart strings.

Unbearable Lightness by Portia De Rossi

This is an autobiography written by Portia De Rossi; actress, model and wife of Ellen Degeneres. I had only ever really heard of Portia, and this book, through watching The Ellen Show. I'm a sucker for reading 'true life stories' and this is a book that touches on issues really quite close to my heart. I made the mistake of reading the most part of this on a train journey, which meant I was sat the entire time trying not to cry.
Whilst I read a lot of true life stories (or at least, I used to) I am very picky about which ones I like. What I loved about this one, besides the honesty and the heartbreaking tone throughout, is the fact that Portia can actually write. Anybody can tell a story, but it's something special to be able tell it in such a way that it truly touches the readers heart.
It's not an easy read, by any means, but look it up and read what issues it tackles. If it interests you, read it. Hell, read it anyway. There is a positive ending, which is always nice as it is Portia's real life, it's refreshing, touching and inspiring.

Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson

I finished this book recently, and again it was a book that didn't take me long to get through. At first it all seemed very repetitive, and that made it difficult to read at first. However, given the story line of the book and the topic it becomes clear why the repetition is necessary. This does die out as you get to the middle of the book, and this is when I became really hooked.
I did not expect the twist at the end, but everything made complete sense after you were presented with all of the details.
If you like thrillers, suspense, or even psychology and issues of the mind, definitely give this book a try.